Average word length dynamics as indicator of cultural changes in society

TL;DR

This study analyzes how the average length of words in Russian and English texts from the last two centuries reflects societal and cultural changes, highlighting trends and key contributing word types.

Contribution

It introduces a diachronic analysis of average word length dynamics across two languages, linking linguistic changes to social development indicators.

Findings

Average word length increased in the 19th century and grew rapidly in the 20th, then decreased in the 21st.

Content words, especially long ones, significantly influence average word length.

Changes in personal pronoun frequency also impact average word length.

Abstract

Dynamics of average length of words in Russian and English is analysed in the article. Words belonging to the diachronic text corpus Google Books Ngram and dated back to the last two centuries are studied. It was found out that average word length slightly increased in the 19th century, and then it was growing rapidly most of the 20th century and started decreasing over the period from the end of the 20th - to the beginning of the 21th century. Words which contributed mostly to increase or decrease of word average length were identified. At that, content words and functional words are analysed separately. Long content words contribute mostly to word average length of word. As it was shown, these words reflect the main tendencies of social development and thus, are used frequently. Change of frequency of personal pronouns also contributes significantly to change of average word length. The other parameters connected with average length of word were also analysed.